PAUL Barber, the man drafted in by Sisu to advise them on their running of Coventry City, has joined Championship club Brighton.

The 45-year-old, who has been helping City’s owners since April, starts his new role as chief executive of the Seagulls on Monday.

Barber had stints as executive director of Tottenham Hotspur and was the commercial and marketing director for the FA before joining the Vancouver Whitecaps but quit the Major League Soccer club in February.

He then worked for Sisu in a consultancy role at the Ricoh Arena, drafted in in an advisory capacity in the short-term to help turn the club’s finances around, including addressing the problematic issue of stadium ownership.

But that has been cut short after Brighton hired him in a permanent position at the Amex Stadium.